“Pray a Great Deal for the Holy Father…”

May He Re-affirm the Traditional Good Friday Prayer.

by Joanna Swords

I am just a simple Catholic who believes, like other Catholics, that we must
know our Faith in order to help save our own souls and to help all the
souls whom God places on our path. We must also do our Catholic duty
by defending the Faith. I am not able to quote numerous passages and
verses from the Bible in a conversation, I am not able to cite Canon
Law.

What I can do, by God's grace through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin,
is to study the catechism, do my best to obey the 10 Commandments and
adhere to the precepts of the Church, heed the requests of Our Lady of
Fatima by including at least five decades of the Rosary daily with my
prayers, make sacrifices for sinners, do the Five First Saturday Communion
of Reparation, wear the Brown Scapular and receive the Sacraments frequently.

So without the terminology of professional theologians or canon lawyers, I
can give in simple language the viewpoint of an ordinary Catholic layman
with regard to the February 4, 2008 indication given by Pope Benedict
XVI, regarding the change of the Good Friday prayer for the conversion
of the Jews, in the old Latin Rite. This we are told was done in an attempt
to appease outspoken members of some Jewish groups who complain they
don't want Catholics praying for their conversion.

We know that the Pope was under pressure to cave in to the demands of these
groups to change the prayer. Likely many Catholics prayed that he would
not relent.

The Good Friday prayers are only prayed liturgically once a year, and are
nothing more than what Our Lord Jesus Christ told us to do — that
is, to pray for our enemies. Who are they? In the words of Our Lord,
they are those whom Our Lord referred to as: “Those who are not
for Me are against Me.”

So on Good Friday every year, we Catholics formally pray the prayers that
are some of the oldest in the Church dating back to the Third Century,
and possibly earlier. We pray for the conversion of the Jews, the Muslims,
pagans, heretics, etc.

Does not our Holy Faith teach that we must not tamper with our Sacred Traditions,
in this case sacred prayers?

The new prayer written by the Holy Father seems to demonstrate that he attempted
to appease both certain groups of Jews and those who pray that he adhere
to all of Catholic Tradition.

I have read some of the opinions of others who are far more qualified to offer
their thoughts than I am with regard to such an important matter — persons
whose opinions are not to be discounted lightly. Some say that the newly
worded prayer is acceptable since it still preserves the essence of the
original prayer, namely, that the Jews need to convert to the Catholic
Faith in order to be saved.

Cardinal Kasper and others have said that the end of the new prayer indicates
that the Jews are not being called to convert — at least not now — which,
of course, to the everyday Catholic is what counts. That is, we are to
strive to do all we can for our eternal salvation now, and not wait until
the last minute, or presume we will be given the time and be allowed
to wait until the last minute.

Some rejoice that the Holy Father has, objectively speaking, taken a step
forward, to reinforce what the Church has always taught (but which has
appeared to be forgotten in the last 40 years): that outside the Catholic
Church there is no salvation, and that the Jews are outside the Catholic
Church. The fact that the Holy Father re-affirmed those truths is appreciated.

But I cannot rejoice. For over the last four decades we have seen members
of the Church hierarchy cave in to all sorts of demands by these same
groups of people (and other similar groups) under the guise of bringing
about some sort of religious unity. But clearly such unity is not according
to Catholic teaching. And the only thing that making these misguided
concessions has accomplished is that more concessions are demanded.

This most recent concession proves that there is no appeasing those who are
against Christ. Since the change was made, that faction of the Jews — the
outspoken ones — continue to complain, because the prayer did not
remove the reference to their need for conversion. Their complaints only
reinforce the Catholic teaching that we must not tamper with our Catholic
Traditions.

The new prayer did not appease this group and we pray that the Holy Father
responds to their outcries, by re-affirming the Traditional prayer, both
in the Traditional Rite and in the Novus Ordo Rite, where at present
the prayer for the Jews has no clear indication for the Jews’ need
of conversion. It will do no harm to promote the old prayer for all Catholics,
and will draw down tremendous graces for the Church and for the Jews
as well.

Those Jews who are crying out against this prayer will not be appeased. And
we cannot allow them to insist that we make changes. The outrage of a
Catholic (doing his God given duty by defending the Sacred Traditions
of the Faith) that begs to be expressed is: Who are they to demand
that we change our sacred prayers!!

How would they react if we called for the removal of their prayers said three
times a day (according to Rabbi Jacob Neusner, Free Republic,
July 20, 2007) — and not just once a year — that thanks God
that they are not Gentiles?

While Catholics pray in their official liturgy once a year for the conversion
of the Jews and for their eternal salvation (and will again do so this
coming Good Friday), which is an act of spiritual mercy and a work of
charity, practicing Jews pray three times a day to thank God that they
are not Gentiles — a seeming expression of racial supremacy.

Our Lady of Fatima stressed over and over again: Pray a great deal for the
Holy Father, he will have much to suffer. We know our Holy Father is
surrounded by enemies within and outside the Church.

We must offer the only support we can for Pope Benedict XVI by heeding Our
Lady's requests to pray for him. Therefore, we call on all Catholics
to join us in a 54-day Rosary Novena, commencing on Good Friday, March
21, 2008, for the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI:

For his spiritual and temporal welfare;
For his safety and protection;
For the grace to fulfill the sacred office of the papacy in accordance with
the Holy Will of God;
For the grace to re-affirm the Traditional Good Friday Prayer and restore
all of the Traditions of the True, One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic
Church;
For the grace of final perseverance;
For the grace to reveal the full Secret of Fatima;
For the grace to call for and lead all the Catholic bishops of the world in
consecrating Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in accordance with
the requests made by Jesus and Mary in the Fatima Message;
For the grace to heed all of these graces.

And just as a reminder from one Catholic to another, we need to unite in heeding
the words of Our Lord by praying for the conversion of all non-Catholics — not
just Jews, but pagans, heretics, schismatics, and apostates. We should
do this not just on Good Friday, but daily.